In a Matter of Time
by Beastmode2755
Summary: It is the World Cup in England and Sherlock gets a call from a formerly arrested criminal who wants to take his revenge.


**In A Matter Of Time**

"A waste of time!" Sherlock exclaimed as his booming voice echoed through the hall of his small apartment.

"We must go, Sherlock," Watson said calmly, trying to convince his friend. "After all it was an invitation from the governor."

"I don't like him anyways." Sherlock mumbled.

It was a bright Saturday morning in the small town. Sherlock glanced over to the window outside. He saw two figures walking in the streets; it was a mother with her young child. Sherlock never wanted children: too much noise, too much work, he had always said.

"Get ready Sherlock, it's a forty-minute taxi drive to Wembley ."

Sherlock heard the enthusiasm in Watson's voice. "Why are you excited to go see a football match?" he asked with curiosity.

Watson turned to Sherlock "When I was a child I used to go with my father to the games at the local pitch and I used to play."

Sherlock nodded at his friend. Sherlock never liked sports; to him, there was too much going on. Sherlock began to get ready, he combed his dark hair to the side and put on his trench coat. "Who is even playing tonight?"

"It's the World Cup Sherlock; first time England has hosted since 1966. The semifinals are tonight as England play Brazil."

Sherlock gave Watson an uninterested grunt."I just asked who was playing, I don't care for any statistics John."

When the taxi pulled up Sherlock and Watson got in. The taxi ride was uneventful for Sherlock; John was having fun chatting with the driver about football and making their predictions for today's matchup. When Sherlock was asked who he thought would win he gave the two men a shrug.

When they arrived at Wembley, Sherlock started to remember why he hated sporting events: the loud noise, the overwhelming amount of people and the ridiculous fanatics of the team. Wembley was a large stadium; holding a capacity of over 90 000 people. Sherlock marvelled at the beautiful design of the building: the never-ending glass windows, the beautiful arch that sat just above it and the paintings that surrounded the newly built stadium.

John glanced at Sherlock who seemed mesmerized by the design "Let's move on Sherlock, we are going to be late for kick off."

Both men pushed their way through the crowd and into the brightly lit hall where a sign read "Club Wembley" They were both greeted by a young man who was in his late twenties. He had dark hair and a bright red uniform on with his nametag that read "Phil"

"Good afternoon lads, a beautiful day for some footy ain't it?"

"It sure is." Sherlock said with a forced smile

Sherlock and Watson made their way up a flight of stairs that had the name of England's captains in the World Cup.

Watson was astonished by the number of players on the wall "Moore, Beckham, Gerrard, Rooney, Lineker." John read aloud to himself.

When they finally made it up the stairs, the men pushed open the doors to a beautiful suite. Tables with bottles of champagne and endless food and other beverages, jerseys lined the walls of past and present stars of England, a red carpet coated the floor that they walked on, and outside there was top class reclining seats where the action could be enjoyed. There were about 15 other people in the suite with them; all either wealthy or ranked high up in politics.

The governor was enjoying a beverage when he turned around to greet Sherlock "Hello Sherlock, Welcome to the Wembley Club."

"Hello governor, thank you for the invite." Watson must have sensed the sarcasm in Sherlock's voice because he gave Sherlock a mean stare.

"Hope you two enjoy the match."

The kickoff had just begun when Sherlock decided to go inside to grab some food and a drink. All of the people in the suite were outside on the chairs watching the match nervously. Sherlock was inside alone reading the plagues and jerseys that lined the suite when he suddenly got a call.

"Hello."

"Nice to hear from you again Sherlock."

It took Sherlock a bit to figure out but he knew the voice was a familiar one. "Jack, what do you want?"

"Just a little chat with an old lad, that's all."

Sherlock could sense something in Jack's voice that was telling him something else. "Cut the nonsense Jack what do you want?"

"Haha. foolish Sherlock. How's the football game, enjoying it much? They released me today and I thought it would be fun to play a game of our own."

"Leave me alone, I am enduring enough having to suffer from watching this sport."

"While here's the thing you don't understand, that football game might not happen."

Sherlock turned, he looked back at the crowd and all of the people outside chanting. "What does that mean?"

"The 27th minute Sherlock remember that time." Jack paused "Bomb."

Then he hung up. Jack Werft was a brutal but clever man; he always dressed sharply and if you saw him in the street he looked more like a businessman rather than a master criminal. Last time Sherlock had seen him was ten years ago when he arrested him for grand larceny and many other crimes. Sherlock checked the time on the scoreboard it read 13:43 Sherlock had just under 14 minutes. He had no clue where to start. He knew that Watson was enjoying the game so much that he did not want to tell him about the incident.

Sherlock began to search his suite as he suspected that there might be some clues. He had to be very stealthy because the jerseys and plaques all had signs on them that said do not touch. When someone would walk inside from the seats outside Sherlock pretended that he was just observing and reading the plaques. He then thought about anything from past encounters with Werft and something came to his mind. Werft was a huge German football fan and he despised the English National team. He remembered Watson talking to the taxi driver earlier about how England beat Germany.

A man approached Sherlock who worked at the stadium "Do you need anything, sir?"

"No, I'm quite fine. Just wondering, what was the time of the goals in the England Germany game?"

"England scored in the 27th minute to defeat Germany 1-0."

"Thank you."

Sherlock now understood why the 27th minute was so significant to Werft but he began to wonder where the bomb could be placed. "The scoreboard, under the thousands of seats, in a concession." Sherlock thought to himself.

Sherlock went back to look at the clock again. There was no score yet between the English and Brazilian teams and the clock read 22:12. Sherlock was pressed for time. Watson then walked inside "Sherlock, why don't you come outside?"

"I am fine in here; just reading the plaques and looking at the jerseys."

"C'mon Sherlock, it's a good game and the chairs are quite comfortable."

Sherlock turned away from Watson "I'll come out at the start of the second half."

"Do as you please" Watson grabbed a beer and wandered outside again.

Sherlock went back to investigating and thinking about where the bomb that Jack Werft had said could be. He analyzed his surroundings; he knew Jack never liked the governor and had always joked about taking him out but Sherlock thought he was never serious. As he was investigating the room he got another phone call from Jack.

"Three minutes Sherlock" Jack's sinister voice echoed through the phone "The clock is ticking"

Just as Sherlock was about to say something back, Jack hung up. Sherlock didn't have many clues to where the bomb was placed but he started to develop a feeling of where it was. Sherlock had just come to realize that Jack was not in the stadium as there was no noise coming from the background of the phone call. Time was indeed ticking, when Sherlock finally realized something. The 27th minute goal by England came from number 10. There were three number 10 jerseys in the suite that Sherlock was staying in. One of the number 10 jerseys belonged to the goal scorer. Sherlock believed that behind that jersey was the bomb but he did not know which player scored the goal. The clock was ticking Sherlock only had 30 seconds before the penultimate 27th minute. Sherlock ran across the room to grab one of the three number 10 jerseys and he came up empty. Twelve seconds remained. His choice was between two football jerseys. Sherlock turned towards the two jerseys "Dammit."

"A wonder strike from number 10 Harry Kane buts the Englishmen on top." These words came from a television set up in the top right corner of the suite. There was an ecstatic roar from the thousands who attended the match. Sherlock had figured out which number 10 jersey to pull down. He put his trembling hand on the jersey and pulled it from the wall. Sitting behind the jersey was a bomb that reads 1:03 Sherlock had to dismantle the bomb which came quite easy for him. He dismantled it in fifteen seconds a new best for himself. The bomb was a simple one as expected from Jack who has most likely never dealt with bombs before.

Sherlock's phone rang "I got you Jack, your bomb skills are quite poor."

"Very funny Sherlock, it's about time you got challenged I saw you trembling when you put your hand on the jersey. I know how worried you were." Jack paused and Sherlock awaited his last words "It isn't over Sherlock I may be down to you but I will come back."

Sherlock let out a laugh "Goodbye, Jack."

Sherlock put himself at ease. He went to sit by Watson with a beverage in hand. He turned to Watson "Big goal from the English, eh."

Watson looked surprised "You were actually paying attention."

"No, not really"

Watson let out a laugh "That's what I thought"


End file.
